# Lipofuscin

Lipofuscin is the 'age pigment', a yellow-brown gunk that builds up inside your cells. It is made of cross-linked, oxidized proteins, damaged fats, sugar add-ons, and reactive metals like iron. It forms inside lysosomes (the cell's recycling chambers) from material they cannot fully break down, especially under oxidative stress and when autophagy is sluggish. The problem: lipofuscin is basically indestructible and cannot be shipped out of the cell. So it piles up in long-lived cells that do not divide, like neurons, heart muscle, skeletal muscle, and the retina's pigment cells. As the granules accumulate, they take up space in the lysosomes, blunt autophagy, and drag down the cell's ability to clear waste, hurting protein quality control. Doctors use lipofuscin as a visible marker of cellular aging and senescence, and it is linked to age-related macular degeneration and some brain diseases.

## Sources

- Brunk UT, Terman A. (2002). Lipofuscin: mechanisms of age-related accumulation and influence on cell function. Free Radical Biology and Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0891-5849(02)00959-0
- Moreno-Garcia A, Kun A, Calero O, et al.. (2018). An Overview of the Role of Lipofuscin in Age-Related Neurodegeneration. Frontiers in Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2018.00464
- Moreno-Garcia A, Kun A, Calero O, et al.. (2025). Lipofuscin accumulation in aging and neurodegeneration. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12699879/

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_Canonical: https://longevity-switzerland.com/en/glossary/lipofuscin · Part of Longevity Cities · Updated 2026-06-22_